Noshtopia

Instant Chocolate Gratification: Best Vegan Gluten-free Brownies Ever!

Is your mouth watering gazing at these delectable brownies? Even more delicious, these chocolatey treats are made from a pre-made mix which means all you have to do is mix, pour, and bake, and boom, instant brownie satisfaction.

And yes, these brownies are vegan AND gluten-free plus nut-free, and they are seriously some of the best brownies I have ever eaten. Vegan brownies with regular wheat flour are pretty easy to make and can be made so no one can tell that there is no egg or dairy in the brownie. But to make a brownie vegan AND gluten-free is a hard thing to do, and most I have tried have been underwhelming to say it nicely.

Say hello to Bliss Brownie Mix made by the Inspired Cookie. This mix is sold in-store mainly in Northern California, but not to fret, you can order the mix online at the Inspired Cookie website.

I met Creator and Founder Sarah Gill of Inspired Cookie  last February at the Women 2.0 Conference and she is the sweetest person. I swear her special ingredient is love because she too has food allergies so she gets it, and that is why her stuff is so good, in my humble opinion. Her cookies are equally amazing but for now I'll focus on the decadence of the brownies which make for an incredible 20% food.

I added walnuts to my brownies because I love nuts and it adds some protein to the dessert. Couple these brownies warm out of the oven with some So Delcious Vanilla Bean ice cream and those of you with food allergies or intolerances to dairy, egg, nuts, or gluten will no longer feel like you have to live without a wonderful brownie experience like everyone else.

Go make some brownies now :)

GMO Linkage: April 22 Edition

What's Happening with GMO Foods?

April 22,2012 edition

Storified by Stephanie Quilao · Mon, Apr 23 2012 03:05:44

Tell the USDA to Keep Agent Orange Corn off Your Plate!http://bit.ly/HO4SxX @food_democracy Please RT No #AgentOrange #GMOsGeanncarlo Lugo

Should We Care about GMOs?60 to 80 percent of processed food in local American grocery stores contain genetically modified ingredients, making GMOs a big concern f...

Hungary Destroys All Its Monsanto GMO Corn Fields. http://bit.ly/wKNtMr #Monsanto #gmosThe Therapy Book

House panel OKs GMO labeling bill, but with a caveatThe bill comes out of committee as the 2012 legislative session is in its final weeks. The legislation would need approval from the House...

"Elephant Nose" Sniffs for Genetically Modified Stuff in Your Food - TechnabobGenetically-modified foods are becoming more common as world crop production falls while the population continues to balloon. Scientists ...

Will Vermont Cave to Monsanto or Lead the Way?Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is hesitating on his support for a bill that would mandate labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) ...

Meatless Monday Idea: Pan-fried Vegan Butternut Squash Ravioli With Chanterelles, Tomato, and Thyme

Butternut squash ravioli has got to be one of my most favorite pastas. I found these beautiful vegan ravioli made by The Pasta Shop in Oakland, CA. The filling consists of butternut squash, yams, chestnuts, breadcrumbs, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and mace. Sounds almost like pie filling doesn't it?

Instead of putting a sauce all over ravioli, sometimes I like to just pan-fry the ravioli. For these butternut squash ravioli, I boiled the pasta al dente, and then pan-fried them with 2 tbsp of Soy-free Earth Balance until the edges were a golden brown.

I put the ravioli aside in a bowl, and then sauteed the onion, garlic, and thyme along with a little sea salt and some chopped up Chanterelle wild mushrooms in a tbsp of olive oil until the onion was soft and sweaty. I put the pan-fried ravioli into the saute mixture, and tossed everything together until well mixed, then placed on a serving plate.

I topped the ravioli with fresh chopped heirloom tomato, and noshed. 

What a simple, heavenly dinner!

Yes! This Grilled Cheese Sandwich is Vegan: Havarti With Roasted Tomato, Garlic, and Basil on Pumpkin Sage Boulot

Oh yes, this sammich dripping with cheese is vegan! Today, April 12 is National Grilled Cheese Day, and for those of us who have dairy allergy or intolerance, or are vegan, it usually means we have to make do with alternative cheeses. 

Up til now, two of my issues with dairy-free cheeses is that one, I haven't tasted one I like, and I've tried many brands, and two, dairy-free cheeses just can't melt like cow milk cheese. But all of that has changed my friends!

At the Natural Products Expo West Show in March, Daiya Foods introduced their new Daiya Wedge and I was blown away by the Jalapeno Garlic Havarti. I could not believe their Havarti was vegan because it had the taste and texture of cheese, and it melted like real cheese. The Daiya Havarti wouldn't fool a dairy eater, but oh, it comes in pretty darn close. The Jalapeno is also very mild and adds more flavor than heat.

The Daiya Wedges come in three flavors: Jalapeno Garlic Havarti, Jack, and Cheddar, and even more exciting besides being vegan all three wedges are also soy-free, and gluten-free. Win!

For National Grilled Cheese Day, I cannot tell you how excited I was to make this grilled Havarti with roasted vine tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Of course, I had to complete the experience with tomato soup. The soup is Whole Foods 365 brand Organic Vegan Tomato soup.

For the bread, I found at the market a Pumpkin Seed Sage Boulet that was vegan. Sage and seeds sounded so good to me, and the pumpkin seeds just add more protein to the sandwich. 

To make the roasted tomatoes, I sliced the tomatoes into pieces, diced fresh basil leaves, and chopped some garlic chunks and mixed in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. I added on some sea salt for flavoring, and roasted the tomatoes in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

The "butter" I used was Earth Balance Soy-Free Buttery Spread. This flavor is my favorite of all the Earth Balance Buttery Spreads because it tastes almost like margarine except it's trans fat-free, vegan, and has no GMOs. I made toast for my folks using this spread and they didn't know the difference.

Dairy-free living just got more cheesy with the new Daiya Wedges. So good! The Havarti was my favorite of the three, and the Wedges IMHO melt better than the Daiya Shreds. Next, I think I'll make a tuna melt with the cheddar.

Note: I took all the photos with my iPhone 4 which now has a cracked photo lens but is not all bad because somehow I can get some cool effects!

Eating Wellness: A Couple Resources To Help You Avoid Chemical Cuisine

One of the most significant things I did to help me boost my healthiness, and drop 40 pounds and keep it off for 4 years this January 2012 was eliminating and avoiding "chemical cuisine."

I define chemical cuisine as any food with ingredients that include additives, preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, GMOs, pink slime and anything not made by Mother Nature - the best food engineer on the planet, in my humble opinion. With all these chemicals in our foods, it's no wonder health issues are on the rise.

If an ingredient sounds like it came from a chemistry experiment, I don't eat it. Eat real foods is my mantra.To simplify, I love Jack Lalanne's food philosophy, "If man made it, I don't eat it." The man lived to be 96 and was still working out til the day he died. Amazing!

If you too would like to start eliminating the chemical cuisine from your daily eating, here are a couple resources that can help educate you and guide you to brands and retailers that carry more all natural foods.

Resource: The Center for Science in the Public Interest

Here is a great and simple summary of, "The Safety of Food Additives" - which additives to avoid, banned additives, and safety ratings for all listed additives. There is even a handy chart you can print out and stick on your fridge.

Resource: The Non-GMO Project

The Non-GMO Project has a fantastic database that lists all the food brands that have been Non-GMO Project verified. The Non-Gmo Project is a non-profit organization and offers North America’s only third party verification and labeling for non-GMO food and products. Their certification has been widely adopted by the industry and consumers. I love that someone took it upon themselves to set some standard since the FDA has done very little in the way of GMO Food regulation.

If you have an iPhone, the Non-GMO Project database is also available in app form for free - handy for when you are at the grocery store.

Are there any other resources you use to help you avoid the chemical cuisine?

Instagram Year in Food: March Top Food Photos

For the month of March in our Year of Food 2012 on Instagram project, these were the two top images of the month. 

In first place with 49 Likes: Heirloom Tomatoes including purple ones from Nugget Market.

And in second place with 44 Likes: Greek Salad also from Nugget Market.

Thank you everyone for your Likes! Now that Instagram is available on Android, please follow the #yif12 project, user: stephaniequilao

Breakfast Idea: Organic Pumpkin Flax Granola With Fresh Raspberries...And A Word About GMOs

Doesn't that look pretty? This week for breakfast and even dinner a couple times, I've been eating Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Granola with pumpkin and flax seeds. I like that the cereal is packed with Omega's 3 and 6 so we can get some healthy fats in. With the granola, I used regular rice milk, so this entire meal is vegan.

Raspberries are a happy fruit to me, and so what a better way to start the day off than with happiness on top of your cereal? Good idea me thinks.

To be honest, I've had a renewed respect for Nature's Path as a company when I heard that they have donated $500,000.00 for the Just Label It campaign to require mandatory GMO labeling on foods on a national level. I am very passionate about this GMO Labeling mandate because this type of food legislation will help regulate GMO companies and help educate consumers in what they are eating.

To see Nature's Path contribute that much cash along with support knocks my socks off. They are showing they walk their talk and I'm happy to support businesses that do that. So, every time I eat my granola, my body feels good as well as my spirit :)

P.S. I bought the box of cereal on my own. Nature's Path is not compensating me financially for this post.

Gluten-free and Vegan: Thai Peanut Noodles With Fried Tofu and Cashews

One of my favorite Thai dishes are the noodles with peanut sauce. I decided to experiment and make a gluten-free version using Trader Joe's gluten-free brown rice spaghetti noodles. The dish turned out pretty good!

For the peanut sauce, I slightly modified this recipe from Naturally Ella's Spicy Peanut Sauce with Brown Rice Noodles and Veggies. I didn't use chiles to make a mild sauce. I also used a gluten-free soy sauce. Instead of vegetable broth, I used rice milk (because that's what I had in the fridge) and I used agave nectar instead of honey (because I like agave better.)

I cut up small piece of extra firm tofu and fried them in canola oil until they were crispy. I threw the cashews in with the tofu toward the end to brown the nuts a bit. I love the taste toasting brings out in nuts plus the cashews add even more protein along with the peanut butter.

From my local Whole Foods salad bar, I got some shredded carrots, peas, cucumber, and green onion, and tossed the carrots and peas along with the gluten-free noodles, tofu, cashews and peanut sauce in a wok until well blended. I topped the noodles with the cucumber and green onions.

This dish was very simple to make and very filling.